We have been gone on a short trip with the family for the annual board meeting and have returned refreshed with high hopes and aspirations for 2011.
Today was the first visit to Keeneland for inspection as the January Mixed Sale begins tomorrow. The sale is full of racing age prospects as well as mares and yearlings. You can definitely pick up a useful horse in this sale. Now is the time to be getting in to have a horse ready to run this year.
The majority of the racing string is settled in at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs Arkansas preparing for the opening of the meet on the 14th of January. We still have a few at Turfway Park in Florence, KY and a few Pennsylvania Bred's at Penn National. Most of the Indiana Bred's are still turned out but will be returning to training soon in order to prepare for the meet that opens in April. The Two Year Olds (foals of 2009) are all broke and some are in South Carolina putting miles under the belt. Others are turned out and will resume training shortly. With Churchill Downs and Trackside being closed this winter, it has made us rearrange the winter training program slightly.
On the 22nd of January we will be attending the Indiana Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association Annual Awards Banquet and meeting. (We hope we will take something home.) They also have a silent auction to help support ITOBA and would gladly accept any donations to that auction if anyone is interested. If any of you would like to become a member, attend the annual dinner/dance you can learn more by going to their site.
www.itoba.com
Now, we present the annual Eclipse Balloting for the common man and woman. Not like the real eclipse award voters where probably over half don't go to the races more than ten times a year. Awards balloting by the fans works for the NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball but for some reason horse racing doesn't use it. Here is your chance to speak your mind. Please register your votes by January 15th. We will announce the picks on Sunday, January 16th, one day prior to the 40th Annual Eclipse Dinner that is being held in Miami Beach at the Fontainebleau hotel. Below are the categories to be voted for as well as a few of our own.
2010 Eclipse Award Finalists
HORSE OF THE YEAR Blame, Goldikova, Zenyatta
TWO-YEAR-OLD MALE Boys at Tosconova,To Honor and Serve, Uncle Mo
TWO-YEAR-OLD FILLY Awesome Feather, R Heat Lightning
THREE-YEAR OLD MALE Eskendereya, Lookin At Lucky, Paddy O'Prado
THREE-YEAR-OLD FILLY Blind Luck, Evening Jewel, Havre de Grace
OLDER MALE Blame, Quality Road, Richard's Kid
OLDER FEMALE Life at Ten, Unrivaled Belle, Zenyatta
MALE SPRINTER Big Drama, Majesticperfection, Smiling Tiger
FEMALE SPRINTER Champagne d'Oro, Dubai Majesty, Rightly So
MALE TURF HORSE Dangerous Midge, Gio Ponti, Winchester
FEMALE TURF HORSE Goldikova, Proviso, Tuscan Evening
STEEPLECHASE HORSE Arcadius, Percussionist, Slip Away
OWNER Claiborne Farm and Adele B. Dilschneider, Mr. & Mrs. Jerome S. Moss, WinStar Farm
BREEDER Adena Springs, Claiborne Farm and Adele B. Dilschneider, Brereton C. Jones
TRAINER Bob Baffert, Todd Pletcher, John Shirreffs
JOCKEY Ramon Dominguez, Garrett Gomez, John Velazquez
APPRENTICE JOCKEY Forest Boyce, Omar Moreno, Angel Serpa
2010 Common Man/Woman Award Finalists
YOUR RACE OF THE YEAR 1)
NATIONAL RACE OF THE YEAR 1)
PERSON AND/OR GROUP THAT DID THE MOST FOR RACING 1)
PERSON AND/OR GROUP THAT DID THE LEAST (OR MOST DAMAGE) TO RACING 1)
Anyone can vote! Husband, Wife, Sons, Daughters, boyfriends, girlfriends, sister, cousin, uncle ,aunt, grandmother, grandfather, mom and dad. Just copy and paste the list, highlight or write in your choice and email your response to
Melracing@aol.com by Saturday, January 15, 2011. You can also answer right in the comment area on this blog.
